Political Participation and Deliberation Online – Contributions from Social Computing

Abstract

The sphere of political participation and deliberation is constantly changing through new online applications. Social computing technologies on the one hand provide new infrastructures and opportunities for political communication and participation – not only for individuals, but also for collective actors like social movements or governments. On the other hand, we need new tools and methods for researching the data provided by such tools. The panel invites theoretical, empirical and methodological contributions from social sciences but also interdisciplinary approaches addressing questions such as: How do new online tools change and shape political deliberation and participation? How can such tools meet democratic demands like accessibility, equality, and reasoning? Which implications do Big Data and social computing have for democratic practices?